As we enter the 2018 fall season, I am reminded of the unpredictable weather patterns in New York during the past summer and the FIFA World Cup highlights. When my memory retreats back to June, the melody from ‘Seven Nation Army’ by White Stripes dictates a more gingerly walking pace. The beat places me in a semi-trance to college playing days.

Soccer is the symbol of the global game. It promotes fair play and it is one of the few sports where young children are consistently walking out with players from the starting line-up. Soccer presents spectators with rules of life on and off pitch. After reading the opening paragraph and past blogs, a reader can attest to my interest in analyzing soccer from multiple lenses. Soccer will be the focus of my next writing project.

The stories of the four women will be a constant focal point. The narratives offer a transdisciplinary framework for analysis. Finding Patterns: Traveling Four Women’s Paths was also recorded on youtube this past summer. You can find the recording at:

The recording begins and ends with two poems that were inspired by the women’s narrative stories. In 2016 at many of the book events, I would share the poem below because it blends the language of the four women and their immigrant experiences.

These expressions and their descriptors are timeless and connect to groups collectively. The immigrant experience was a topic of discussion during the 2018 World Cup; immigration impacts all countries. The four women’s narratives are signifiers and markers to help understand and interpret the changes in patterns across borders—as many make the journey or simply ‘make it’—the outcome for individuals are of great importance.

During the upcoming months, poetry that was created from the four women’s stories will frame the blog posts—as poetry invites further analysis of the world we live in. Please let me know your thoughts.